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Birthday Day with Marie Marie will be 89 on Saturday, but we are going to be gone that day so we celebrated with her today. She had an eye doctor’s appointment because she has somehow managed to lose her glasses at the home. The doctor did a quick assessment of her eyes and before long we were picking out frames. We’ll know if we got things right in about a week. Crysten rode up with me early this morning, so while I was at the doctor’s she went and got the birthday cake, balloons, drink and ice cream for the surprise party after lunch. As I sat in the waiting room, I noticed that Helene Boldstridge was on the staff there. “Hmmm,” I wondered. “Do I know her?” Soon she came out and asked me to sign some papers. As she leaned over to show me where to sign she said, “You look familiar.” “You’re Aunt Glenna’s friend, aren’t you. I’m Susan.” “I thought you were Susan.” She went on to explain that her son went to my brother’s church in NH. I didn’t know Charlie was her son. Brian and Judy took him and his wife to Hungary on a mission trip and when they returned, they sold all that they had and went back with their three children. They’ll be home in a couple of days for the summer and plan to return next fall. Small world. Charlie’s the reason Brian says (jokingly) that he won’t take any more of his congregation on a mission trip. He was one of the church’s best workers. Isn’t that just the way? Around 1:30 we had a room decorated and everything ready for Marie’s surprise. The Estes, Wayne and Linda, Melissa and the kids, Loralei and her kids, and Bob were all there. I must say – it looked like a school had arrived as the 15 children filed in. I went to Marie’s room where she was sitting with Crysten and Bob. “Marie, come with me, I have a surprise for you. You do like surprises, don’t you Marie?” She smiled in the affirmative. While she likes surprises, they sometimes make her very sad, so I wasn’t sure how’d she react to everything. As she rolled in and began to see who was there she was very happy. She saw Pastor Wayne and Linda first. She speaks about Wayne all the time and practices her accordion so she can one day play with him again in church. She really misses her church. Today she got to play with her minister and she loved it. The children sang to her, and we sang with her and it was a fun day. The kids all brought home made cards and art work and it was great. “Nana,” Elynn said firmly. “Did she hurt herself?” she asked as she observed Marie’s wheel chair and bandaged foot. Others asked if they could wheel her around. I was surprised that she liked it. Faith, Carissa and Megan stayed behind to help me clean up. Instead they just wheeled Marie around the building helping her pass out some of her birthday candy to the staff. She loves to share her candy with them. I had a number of staff stop and talk with the girls and then later go out of their way to tell me what wonderful grandchildren I had. You would think that they spend a lot of time in nursing homes. They don’t seem to flinch at the sights that they see there… Not only is there suffering, but there are some very unlovely things. They don’t even seem to notice. It’s wonderful. And they are so good with Marie. She took them on a tour of the physical therapy room, the beauty salon and other places in the building. It was so good for her and the girls. She denied that she was getting tired, but we noticed her starting to nod off so we all kissed and hugged her goodbye and left. Good times had by all. Tonight in prayer meeting Dean Bureau shared about his month long stay in Guatemala. It was an amazing story of a man away from all things familiar and totally committed to letting God ordain his time and his steps. Out of that came the most amazing circumstances. He did a great job sharing how God is using these experiences to change his life. Missions has a way of doing that… |
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Posted by Anonymous